Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to data processing, and relates more particularly to system and methods for assessing and scoring a physician.
Description of the Related Art
Healthcare as an industry has become increasing more complex and costly. The number and type of healthcare providers available to patients is likewise vast. Added to this ever-increasingly expanding system is a significant absence of important information. Unlike most other industries, the healthcare industry provides very little information to help patients make informed decision when selecting a physician. Yet, the selection of a physician by a patient can have considerable—even critical—effects upon the patient's treatment and recovery.
Currently, most reviews or rankings of physicians, particularly those from patients, are based on non-quality-related factors, such as niceness of doctor, wait times, cleanliness of the waiting area, etc. Unfortunately, this information is of little or no value when trying to find the best quality doctor and can, in fact, be misleading and detrimental if the wrong metrics are taking for surrogates for quality.
Accordingly, what is needed are systems and methods to help gather data related to physicians and use that data to help assess the quality of a caregiver or set of caregivers.